Computational issues in the planning and kinematics of binary robots

Abstract

To meet the objectives of many future missions, robots will need to be adaptable and reconfigurable. A concept for such a robotic system has been proposed previously based on using a large number of simple binary actuators. Previous researchers have addressed some of the issues brought up by robots with a few binary actuators. This paper examines the computational feasibility of controlling and planning such binary robotic systems with a large number of actuators, including computation of their workspace, forward kinematics, inverse kinematics and trajectory following. Methods are proposed and evaluated by simulation. Detailed error analysis and computational requirements are presented. An example of the planning for a binary walking robot is presented.

On the design of large degree-of-freedom digital mechatronic devices based on bistable dielectric elastomer actuators

“…For a binary system with a large number of DoF, exhaustive searches through the workspace are computationally impractical. Combinatorial search algorithms and genetic algorithms have led to a dramatic reduction in computation time for these problems [4], [5]. It has been shown that computational requirements are reasonable for the planning of systems having hundreds of DoF.…”

“…Other explored applications include industrial and medical devices [8]. Simulations suggest that less than 100 DoF will provide sufficient resolution for many practical tasks, and that the associated computing requirements for solving their inverse kinematics are reasonable [5].…”

Design and Postures of a Serial Robot Composed by Closed-Loop Kinematics Chains

“…In our opinion, binary actuators are interesting, since they allow for an easier control of the robot: only two different positions need to be controlled. This advantage comes at a price, since less points in the workspace can be reached, but hereby, large motion workspace, small volume and multiple degrees of freedom will be some of the new challenges of this kind of robots (Lichter et al, 2002). In the robot proposed in this chapter, the activation of every lineal actuator of the closedloop generates a planar and rotational movement of the output link respect to the input one.…”

“…Attending some researches, it is not difficult to find many papers of climbing or walking robots (Qi et al, 2009;Nagakubo & Hirose, 1994;Aracil et al, 2006b), but mostly adopt serial mechanism, what makes them less robust and with compromised stability. However, few authors have researched about the use of the hybrid mechanisms to add the desired characteristics with a simple and sensor-less control (Lichter et al, 2002;Chen & Yeo, 2002;Lees & Chirikjian, 1996;Erdmann & Mason, 1988;Goldberg, 1989;Craig, 1989). The mechanism proposed combines parallel modules to set up a climbing robot, in addition with improve the mentioned characteristics, to outfit the robot with best stability and strength.…”

On the Kinematics of Solar Mirrors Using Massively Parallel Binary Actuation

“…Recent studies have shown the potential of using simple, lightweight, low-cost dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA) to activate bi-stable mechanisms [8,9]. Researchers have studied the use of these binary actuators in serial robotic manipulators [10][11][12][13][14]. A binary manipulator concept developed for space robotics applications is BRAID, shown in Figure 2 [12].…”